


Collateral Damage

by Tark



Series: Collateral Damage [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4358189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tark/pseuds/Tark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SG-1 makes a jump to an alternate universe, landing squarely in dear old Sunnydale.</p>
<p>All rights to the characters belong to their respective copyright holders. I make no claim on any of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unexpected Arrival

Collateral Damage – Chapter 1

The building, set in the very back of a similar group of buildings in the business complex, looked exactly like what it was, a storage warehouse. About the length of a football field and as wide as a 747's wingspan, it stood just over three stories tall. Along its sides were small rectangular windows set horizontally a couple of feet down on the walls from the roof, evenly spaced fifteen feet from each other. Originally painted a bright yellow, the color had faded over the years, leaving it a dingy tan.

The pea gravel crunched under the security guard's feet as he walked around the corner, checking the door set in the side, grabbing the handle and giving it a shake to ensure it was locked, juggling his flashlight as he did. Satisfied, he moved to the large set of double doors in which the single door was set. When they were open the doors would allow anything up to the size of a Greyhound bus to enter the building with room to spare. Checking the locks on the doors the guard grunted in satisfaction, then touched his wand to the box set next to the door. A ping emitted from it as it recognized the wand and recorded the time in its database. Glad to be finished with his rounds for the moment, the guard headed down the road toward the front of the complex and his nice warm shack, his mind already on the pot of coffee he'd started perking before beginning his rounds. He rubbed his hands briskly in the cool evening air, flashlight tucked under his arm, already tasting the brew. In moments he'd disappeared into the dimly lit shadows surrounding the buildings.

The evening progressed quietly, the security guard making his rounds every two hours. He was a tad late for the 3 a.m. round, as he'd fallen asleep at his desk, only waking up when his wand buzzed ten minutes after 3. He hated making the rounds at this time of the morning, and wouldn't have taken this job under normal circumstances, but things weren't normal now. He'd just moved into the area, money was tight, and jobs were hard to come by. Strangely, though, there were a lot of openings for security guards. Grumbling the entire time he quickly made his rounds, returning to his shack by 3:30. He sat down at his desk, kicked his feet up, and was quickly asleep again.

The interior of the warehouse was pitch black. Very little light came in from the windows set high in the two long walls, and what did make its way in was quickly blocked by the tall free-standing shelves that ran three quarters of the length of the building. Over two stories high themselves, they were loaded with boxes, crates, and all sorts of other storage containers. They didn't reach to the end of the building, though. They stopped about fifty feet before the end wall, leaving a large area that was used for storage of the more bulky items that couldn't be put on the shelves. There wasn't much here at the moment, and what was here seemed to have been stored haphazardly. Drop cloths covered everything, turning sharp edges soft.

Suddenly a low hum filled the air. A rat, startled by the unusual noise, dived back under a pile of goods in the corner of the building, emitting a small squeak of its own as it did so. The noise increased tenfold as, off in the corner, a drop cloth that had covered a tall

thin object disintegrated as the vortex of a newly formed wormhole slammed out across the warehouse floor, then snapped back into the now exposed stargate, pieces of the destroyed drop cloth fluttering to the floor. The wormhole's surface settled down into quiet ripples as the rumbles settled down into the near subsonic.

For several long moments nothing else happened. The rats, becoming quickly accustomed to the rumble of the gate, stuck their quivering noses out from behind the crates to see what new things had invaded their territory. They quickly scurried back under cover as first one body flew out from the surface of the wormhole to land on the floor in a heap, then another, until four bodies littered the floor. Then as suddenly as it had started the wormhole stopped, collapsing in on itself until it was gone. The room plunged into darkness, covering the bodies with inky blackness.

Xander frowned. "I sense a disturbance in the force." Giles looked at him with a raised brow, while Buffy just looked at him blankly. "Boy, do I need some guy friends. I thought I felt an earthquake." Giles simply shook his head.

Perhaps he was just tired. After all, they had just come in from patrolling. They got out about 9:30 that night, and looking at the clock now it was just at 3 AM. Perhaps it was just his imagination but he didn't think so.

"Hey, we live in California!" Xander protested, looking over toward Willow, hoping his friend would throw behind him in support. "What do you say, Will..." he stopped, then sprang forward and grabbed her as she started to collapse. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he prevented her fall, then settled her down on the couch. Even as he did Willow's eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" she asked as she straightened herself up on the couch and looked at her friends, who were now gathered around in front of her. "Wait, I fainted?" She grimaced as Buffy's nod confirmed it. "I hate it when I do that!" She rose to her unsteadily to her feet, then noticed, now that she seemed to be okay, there was the mixed look of concern and impatience on Buffy's face.

"Actually Xander was closer to right than he knows," she said. "There was a disturbance in the force. " She grinned at her friend, showing that you didn't have to be a guy to be a geek. "Or at least the magical force. Something has happened to shake the foundations of the magics around here, Buffy. At least, that is the only thing that I can think of that would have caused me to feel it like I did. It was like an explosion on the left side of my head... but it wasn't. I can't explain it any better." She shrugged.

"Any lasting effects, Willow?" The concern in Giles' voice was unmistakable. He had seen her go through a lot lately. Her breakup with Tara was not too far behind her, and he was a bit concerned with her overall outlook about magics, and her seeming indifference to the possible consequences of her actions. But that was a discussion for another time.

"I seem to be fine," Willow replied. And she was. The pressure in her head had been

intense, but luckily very brief. "Whatever it was, it is gone now."

"Any idea where this might have come from, Will?" Buffy's voice, although quiet, was forceful. Things had been quiet, relatively speaking, in Sunnydale for the past week, and that was never a good thing. Calm before the storm and all that.

Willow did not answer immediately, but rather turned her thoughts inward, trying to recall the feeling that had overcome her. Her brow furrowed as she put effort into searching her memory. Unconsciously, though her eyes were closed, she turned her head slowly from side to side as if she could actually see the location. Finally she sighed, opened her eyes, and looked over at her friend.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I can't get a definite feel for the location. It appears to be north of us, and not that far away, but that's all I'm getting." Willow looked a bit frustrated. "I would try a locator spell, but I don't have the physical component I need to do that." The look on her face said it all. She didn't like to admit that there was something that she couldn't solve with magic.

"That's okay, Wills," Buffy replied. She had been thinking about what Willow had said. North of their location were a few blocks of residential housing, and then, beyond those, was the warehouse district. It looks like circumstances have chosen where she'll go patrolling tonight. It might as well be the warehouse district as any other place, she thought to herself as she sat down at the table

"I'll head back out on patrol and cover the warehouse district. Willow, check and see if Xander's earthquake actually happened." Buffy stifled a yawn that had come suddenly upon her.

"Cup of tea, Buffy?" Giles asked as he rose and headed for the kitchen. "Nothing like a good cup of tea to put you back at the top of your game." His eyebrows rose as he looked over to Buffy.

"No thanks, Giles," Buffy said as she rose. "I should go ahead and head back out. I need to be done with the sweep before dawn."

Col. O'Neill groaned as he opened his eyes and found himself in a prone position. Worse, he did not remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered, they were talking to the natives on PX 479 Alpha about possibly trading some of their natural medicines for some low technology items. It had taken a couple of hours, but he and his team had managed to secure the medicines they were looking had packed up the samples that Dr. Jackson had requested, putting everything in piles next to the stargate until it was time for them to leave. They had been carrying the last load from the small village to the gate when they were attacked by Goa'uld fighters. They followed the plan they always use in situations like this. Dr. Jackson headed to the DHD to key the sequence to take them home, while the rest of them protected his back.

For the most part it went as planned. Daniel had activated the gate while he and Teal'c

shot at the fighters with their weapons while Carter tossed the supplies through the gate as fast as she could. She was almost finished when the three fighters that had been harassing them coordinated a strafing attack against them. They were on the small group before they knew it, and the only escape was through the gate. Jack had ordered them to charge through the gate and then followed quickly himself. Teal'c, Daniel, and Sam jumped through pretty much simultaneously, and Jack was only half a second behind. But in that half second Jack saw the plasma bolts blast against the gate and watched as a surge of energy struck the control devices of the gate itself.

He sat up, leaning against a nearby box to allow his head to clear, then winced in pain as his left hand contacted the ground. Looking down he could see blood spotting his uniform sleeve. It hurt like the devil, but he didn't think it was broken. He looked around and spotted the rest of his team on the floor, scattered around the front of the stargate. Even as he looked he saw them begin to stir and sit up.

"What happened to us, sir?" Samantha Carter said as she got groggily to her feet. She leaned over to help Daniel sit up as he stirred on the floor. Teal'c, already on his feet, started to explore the warehouse behind him.

As she neared the Colonel she noticed the blood on his sleeve. "You're wounded!" She grabbed the med kit from her belt and went over to Jack, pulling out her knife as she did. "I'll have to cut that sleeve open, Colonel," she said as she approached him.

Jack winced as he held out his arm. Sam gently held the arm, taking care not to move it more than necessary while cutting open the sleeve.

"I'm not sure what happened, Sam," Jack replied as she worked. "That's your department. There is the gate," he gestured to the gate behind him leaning up on the wall, "but I don't see the DHD. I suggest you make that your first priority while Teal'c, Daniel, and I try to figure out where we are."

"Yes sir," Sam replied. "As soon as I'm done patching you up." With quiet efficiency she proceeded to do just that. Shortly she had his wound clean and bandaged. She closed the medical kit, clipping it on her belt as she stood up.

"I'll get right on the DHD, Colonel," she said as she made her way toward the gate. She began to look around to see if she could find the DHD. Jack watched her for a moment, then moved over to help Daniel to his feet, then looked over as Teal'c returned from his walk around the warehouse interior.

"Looks like there's a door over there," Jack said as he pointed to the door to the far end of the warehouse he had spotted while Sam was bandaging his arm. "I suggest we start there and see if we can figure out what's going on." It did not take them long to pick up the gear that they had dropped when they tumbled through the gate, even with Jack favoring his wounded arm. There was not much gear to collect, as they had sent almost everything back before going to the gate themselves. They still had their weapons, a long with a couple of clips of extra ammunition, some E – rations, and a chocolate bar

here or there. In other words they were equipped for a day trip but not for any sort of heavy action.

"Found it!" Sam said excitedly as she finished pulling a tarp from atop the DHD. It didn't look to be in bad condition. At least there was no apparent damage to the unit.

"Excellent work Sam!" Jack replied as he moved toward the front of the warehouse. "Now do you think we could keep the noise down a bit? Never know who might be around the corner." He involuntarily winced as he bumped his left arm up against one of the shelves. Not for the first time was he thankful he had wounded his left arm and not his right. Things were bad enough without him fumbling everything.

Sam, looking a bit abashed, gave Jack and apologetic smile, then turned and started to look over the DHD.

Buffy walked silently between the rows of the buildings in the warehouse district, her practical flats barely making a whisper as she walked. So far it had been a rather uneventful evening. She had dusted a couple of vamps who could not have been more than a couple of days old. Their pathetic attempts to drain her blood almost had her laughing. She hadn't let it go to her head, and had made short work of them once she got down to business. Other than that though, there had not been much in the way of activity. Especially since she had entered the warehouse district. If in an intimate object could be called dead, then these warehouses were dead. Their long walls were hidden in the shadows of the night, their windows black against the lighter shades of pale black that colored the walls.

A sharp sound in the air drew her up short. Her head swiveled, zeroing in on the sound she had heard. She moved quickly to the end of the building, slowly turning her head around the corner. She saw three figures in what appeared to be military garb come out of one of the doors of the building across the street and began to sweep the area. They looked to be in good shape, and they definitely did not look dead. This was all she needed. Another bunch of would be heroes trying to save people who didn't need to be saved. Now she had to figure out how to deal with them. Because Sunnydale was hers. She made that deal with the government after dealing with the Collective, and she wasn't about to let them forget that. So, what better way than a direct approach?

With a bold stride she moved into the middle of the street and headed toward the three figures. "Morning boys!" She said loudly as she moved toward them. "Lovely night for a stroll isn't it?" The moon, hidden by the clouds, took this moment to find a break in the cloud cover, illuminating the street as Buffy walked across it.

Startled, as she had seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, they raised their weapons. They moved apart so as to make it harder for her to attack all of them simultaneously, if it came down to that. The man who appeared to be the leader of the group, an older gentleman, looked quizzically at her.

"It is, isn't it?" Col. O'Neill replied, even as he tried to grasp the fact that he was talking

to what appeared to be a 16-year-old girl at 0400 hours in the morning. She didn't look dangerous, but he learned from experience that you could not judge a book by its cover. Daniel would be so proud of him, quoting like that. He looked over at Teal'c and Daniel, then nodded for them to lower the weapons. "I don't think were in any danger from the young lady. Do you?" He asked.

"Well," Buffy said, "not unless you start it," she said brightly. "So listen. I had a deal with you guys. You stay out of Sunnydale, and I don't kick your ass back to Washington. Now what I'd like to know is, why have you decided to ignore that deal?"

Just then a fourth emerged from the doorway. "Col. O'Neill?" Samantha said as she came across the street. "We have a problem." She headed toward the group, then stopped when she saw the stranger with them.

Great. Just what he needed, Jack thought as he looked between Carter and the young teenage girl. "Don't we though? So, I'm not sure what deal you are referring to. We are just passing through." Even that sounded lame to him, and he knew it was the truth. That was the absurd part of it.

"Really?" Buffy asked, not really believing them, and the look she shot him said the same thing. She had her fill of the military when she was dating Riley, and all of that had left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Really." Now Jack let some of the steel in his voice show he wasn't used to his word being question. A soldier he was, true, but he also had integrity.

Buffy quirked an eyebrow as she recognized the new tone of his voice. She imagined her father might have sounded something like that if he was trying to discipline her. But it would not work on her now. She knew better. Life had been hard here, and she had grown up quickly.

"Colonel?" The tone in Samantha's voice suggested to Jack that she really needed to talk to him.

"While this has been fun," Jack said to the teenager, "but we really have to go."

Buffy watched as the Colonel gathered his team together with his eyes, then withdrew back into the warehouse. She glanced up at the cross street signs, making careful note of the address and location so that Willow could keep an eye on the place. As she left the complex she made sure that she wasn't followed and headed home. It was time to get the Scooby Gang together.

 


	2. Vampires Are Real?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two of Collateral Damage. Buffy to the rescue. SG-1 finds out that vampires are *very* real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to their respective copyright holders. I have no claim on any of them.

  
**Chapter Two – Vampires Are Real?**  


Teal'c watched Buffy leave the premises, then closed the outer door, secured it tightly both with the deadbolt lock and a piece of nearby two by four, which he jammed across the handles, wedging it in tightly. He then turned and made his way to the others, who were waiting for him.

"The perimeter seems quiet, O'Neill. The young woman has left the premises." He settled back on his heels, not quite in a standard easy stance. But there was no way you can look at Teal'c and tell he was anything other than a warrior. Even standing seemingly at ease he still radiated power.

"Okay people. What do we know?" Jack looked at them as he spoke, hoping that one of them had an answer to what it happened.

Sam had been waiting for a moment to speak, and now that that moment was here, she wasted no time using it. 

"Colonel, the DHD is fried. Most of the interior modules have been melted into small piles of slag. The only way that I can dial out from here would be to completely rebuild the DHD. Using parts that I would need to get back from off world. Which I cannot do because the DHD is broken." She looked frustrated by that. Samantha Carter was not one that sat back and let others do the work. 

Great. Just great, Jack thought as Sam finished speaking. "So when we came through the gate. That fried the DHD?" He asked. His thoughts on the image of the Goa’uld energy bolts slamming into the gate as he plunged through the event horizon.

Sam shook her head. "From what I can tell it's been years since these parts were fried. There is dust everywhere, and there just hasn't been enough time between when we came through and now for the dust to accumulate. What I can't understand is how we got here to begin with. I took a look at the gate. The power receptors are flat. I doubt that there is enough juice in them to actually begin a manual dial of the gate, let alone take things to the point where the wormhole could form." Her face spoke volumes to those that knew her, and these men knew her well. 

Jack thought about that for a moment. He would be the first to admit that he did not have the scientific background of Carter or Jackson. But he wasn't a slouch either. The facade he cast to the people that he met sometimes made him seem a bit slow. He was anything but. "So you're saying that the DHD has been busted for years, and that the ring itself doesn't have enough power to run? So how did we get here then?"

Sam shrugged. “Obviously the power must have come from somewhere, or we would not be here,” she replied. “Until I can repair the DHD enough to be able to access its logs, I will not be able to give you a more definitive answer. Sorry Sir.”

Daniel has been thinking about their situation since they had gotten here, and while he had helped Sam with the equipment it had not taken him long to figure out what Sam had just told the rest of them. And she was right. There was no way that the gate could have brought them here. But it had. Obviously, since the four of them were now here. He opened his mouth to say something to the group when a phantom pain ghosted through his head, bringing a wince to his face. As quick as it came it was gone. He massaged a temple as he turned to the others.

"We are obviously on a planet very similar to our own." He gestured around to the shelves that held various objects. From where he was standing he could see a couple of crates of what look like soup containers, several boxes were labeled as containing LED televisions, and coffee machines sat in a neat row on another shelf. "I mean, all the stuff you see over there we have at home right? Do you think maybe we came back to Earth through a gate we don't know about? I mean, the stuff is even labeled in English!"

"I don't think so Daniel," Sam stated. "The Stargates give off a very unique energy signature when they're used, and even when they aren't there still some energy leakage that can be tracked if you know what you're looking for. And we knew what we were looking for. Ever since we discovered the first gate and figured out the energy signature that it gave off we have had satellites scanning continuously for those particular energy signatures. So far only two of the discovered, the one we have and the one the Russians have. So as much as I would wish that this was home, I really don't think it is." She paused for a moment.

"As to the obvious use of the English language, well, I have no clue about that," she admitted.

Daniel sighed. He had half hoped that he had been right, but he knew that he wasn't. "So. What do we do? Sam, if this world is like ours you think you might be able to acquire the materials to repair the gate?"

Sam shook her head. "Unless they have a gate program of their own the technology needed for the gate probably will not exist here." She stopped, a thought striking her. "I might be able to manufacture what we need if their technology level is anywhere near ours and I can get access to some specific materials." After a second or two she looked over at Jack.

"Actually that might not work," she said a bit sadly. "I would probably need an undamaged part to use as a template to create the other parts. Most of the modules in the DHD have at least one other duplicate in the machine. But there are a crucial few that are unique. They don't have backups. And without those, the machine will not work."

Well isn't that just dandy, Jack thought as he leaned back against the nearby shelving unit Here they were, on a world where the population at least appeared to look like them from what he saw of the girl that night they met earlier tonight, and they were stranded. He said as much to the rest of the team.

"So we can probably fit in if we have to. I am also fairly sure that any currency we're carrying will not do us any good here." He glanced at his watch. Almost 0430 hours. "I suggest we head out to the outskirts of town and find a place that we can lay low until daylight. Maybe in the light things will not look as bad." He saw Daniel looking at him with that familiar 'yeah right' look, and shrugged back at him. What else could they do?

He reached down and picked up his P90 and slung the strap across his shoulder, settling it down in its familiar position. "Gather your gear and let's get out of here. Teal'c you take lead and head southeast until we hit the woods."

In silence the group made their way outside, taking time to quietly close the warehouse door behind them. The sky was full of scattered clouds and was clearer than it had been earlier. Moonlight now lit their way. But when the moon slid behind the clouds the ground between the warehouses, and later the trees, turned gloomy. They did not let it bother them though, because so far what they'd seen was nothing compared to some of the places they been lately. 

They had been walking for about half an hour, first having successfully avoided the security guard that they had seen in the guard shack, sound asleep. Now they had made their way to the outskirts of the woods and began to thread their way through the underbrush. Teal'c abruptly threw his hand up in the signal that brought them to an instant halt as his keen senses picked up something ahead of them. He crept forward, his silhouette even lower than it had been before. Shortly he was lost from view of the others. The others crouched where they were, patiently waiting for his return.

In less than five minutes Teal'c reappeared and made his way over to the small group. He began to tell the others what he found, his voice quiet.

"I saw what appeared to be a native of this planet making his way through the woods. He passed above and to our right so he did not see us. His passage was extraordinarily quiet, but I was able to remain undetected. Two minutes travel from us is a small clearing. When he got there another man was waiting for him, and had a woman bound in on the ground before him. As they began talking to each other I crept away and returned here to report."  
Jack nodded as Teal finished up. "Okay folks. I don't like the thought of a woman being bound. Let's go see what we can find out about this." He looked at Teal'c, then nodded his head toward the path Teal'c had just traveled. Without a word Teal'c turned and headed back up the path. The rest of the group followed.

It was only a matter of minutes, even traveling as stealthily as they were, to make their way to the clearing. Once there though, they found it empty. Teal'c made his way over to the spot where he had seen the two men and woman, and kneeling, found traces of the imprints that the man and woman had made. He studied them for a moment, and then rose and moved over next to O'Neill.

"They headed off in that direction," he said, pointing down toward a small path that led away from the clearing. "I do not believe they could be more than one or two minutes ahead of us."

With a nod, Jack sent Teal'c down the path. Sam and Daniel followed, with himself bringing up the rear. The air was crisp. He thought he tasted the first crisp taste of fall on his tongue as he took a deep breath. At least the air smelled good.

After a few moments of following the path the space between the trees began to widen. Teal'c stopped as the path suddenly ended at the edge of a large clearing full of graves, headstones standing out against the dark ground. They can also see mausoleums and large monuments, all shrouded in the gloom of the night.

"Just like us," Daniel said matter-of-factly. "Wouldn't you know we would find ourselves in the middle of a graveyard." He was about to say more when Teal'c signaled for quiet, having spotted movement nearby. He saw the two men dragging what appeared to be a now unconscious woman deeper into the graveyard.

O'Neill saw them too. With a wave of his hand he sent Sam and Daniel to one side, while he and Teal'c made their way at an angle toward the three figures. They got within ten yards when the figures stopped abruptly and begin to sniff the air, almost like an animal. Then with a low growl one of them turned to look directly at O'Neill.

Jack watched the man, reflecting on how pale he appeared to be. You must not be getting a lot of sun... He stopped, his thoughts churning to a halt as the figure suddenly appeared much closer to him. He knew he should be alarmed, even afraid, but... Didn't really seem to matter. In the back of his mind a small voice screamed at him. It was telling him that this was wrong, he should not be feeling so complacent about this man coming toward him. Even as he watched the man's face wiggled, then formed itself into some bizarre malformed face. With very long fangs.

Jack heard Sam and Daniel yelling at him, and he saw in his peripheral vision Teal'c bringing his staff weapon to bear, but that did not matter either. Nothing seem to exist except those eyes. He just stood there as the creature reached out to grab him, his intent to bring Jack into the reach of those deadly fangs evident on his face.

A figure streaked out from nowhere, slamming into the creature. With a move of incredible strength the young woman - Jack had a second to realize that it was the young blonde that he had met earlier in the evening - picked up the creature and bodily threw him across two rows of headstones to slam against the side of a mausoleum, where he dropped to the ground.

Even as the first creature was flying through the air the woman spun and raced toward the other one who was attempting dragging the woman away. With a snarl he dropped the unconscious woman and spun to face his opponent. He might as well never turned around. The woman did a dropkick to his face and, as he was spinning around, pulled a stake from her belt and slammed it through his heart, causing him to promptly explode in a cloud of dust.

The sound of automatic weapons cut through the night as Sam and Daniel opened up on the first creature, who had recovered and was now charging them. The figure staggered, dozens of bullets slamming into his chest, sending it crashing to the ground.

The sudden silence as the firing stopped enveloped them like a shroud. Even as Jack and the others tried to process what they had seen, the young woman ran across his field of vision and leaped, doing a 360° spin to slam the stake, still held in her right hand, into the chest of the creature, now full of bullet holes, as it rose to its feet. As the creature exploded into a cloud of dust in front of her, she stepped back and looked over at them.

"Didn't they give you any kind of briefing before sending you out here?" She asked incredulously as she looked at the four figures in front of her. "You can't just blaze away with your guns and expect to stop them! You have to take off their heads, or stab them in the heart with a wooden stake. Either one of those surefire way of killing them. But guns? Unless you can blow off their head in one shot, then guns really won't work."

Hearing a low moan nearby, Buffy made her way over to the young woman, who was laying on her back. The woman moaned again as she helped the woman to her feet and over to a nearby headstone, where the woman leaned against it for support.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked as she scanned the graveyard with her eyes. Where there were a couple of vamps, more were sure to be around.

The woman nodded as she took a moment to steady herself. "I was in the Bronze, and this really good-looking guy chatted me up, buying me a drink and tell me how cute I was."

On that point Daniel would've agreed. She couldn't have been more than twenty, about 5 foot 2, brunette hair spilling down just past her shoulders. Nice figure too. He allowed himself a small smile.

Almost as if she could hear his thoughts Sam turned and shot Daniel a look, then returned her attention back to the girl.

"The next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground over there looking at the five of you. What happened?"

"Nothing that would make any sense to you, I'm afraid," Buffy responded. "I suggest you hurry up and head home." She helped the woman to her feet, then turned and started to escort the woman out of the graveyard. "It's not safe out here at night." She stopped to look back at the others.

"Well, you coming?" Buffy asked. It was obvious to her that if she left them out here they would definitely get themselves in all sorts of trouble. They appeared lost, even if they tried to hide it well. She'd seen military types before, and although these guys certainly dressed and acted the part, there seemed to be more to it than that. And with what Willow had mentioned earlier about the spike in the magic around the place, and the subsequent arrival of these strangers, she thought she ought to keep her eye on them. Even if that meant bringing them home. Well, at least Dawn wasn't there.

"Opinions?" Jack asked, looking at the other three. He still wasn't sure what he had seen, and wanted to hear what the others had to say. There had to be a logical explanation for all of this. Didn't there?

"Did those two men just… explode into dust?" Daniel asked, still not believing what his eyes had shown him.

"That is how it appeared to me, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated as he held his staff upright in his right hand. "Perhaps it is similar to the Wraith life draining capabilities. Or perhaps it is the device she used."

"Perhaps it is the fact that they are vampires." Buffy had moved to within easy hearing distance of the group. "Vampires don't like a stake to the heart. Makes them explode. Now it's obvious that you're not from Sunnydale. Come on I'll take you home. You can ask all the questions you want there. And you will be safe there. No vampires. Or any other critters for that matter. Well, except for my sister. She may show up." Buffy half grinned and nodded back toward the edges of the cemetery.

"Vampires?" Sam whispered to herself, her eyes on the teenager.

"Let's get out of here." With a shrug, O'Neill nodded that they should follow her. After all, they were in strange territory and the girl had just saved them from something that didn't look entirely human. He knew he didn't have to tell his team to keep their eyes open. They were smart enough to do that all on their own.


	3. What World Are YOU From?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy Brings SG-1 home to meet the crew.

**Chapter Three – What World Are YOU From?**

Consciousness crept slowly to the sleepy redhead, the warmth of the crumpled blankets leeching what little will she had to arise from the bed. The sun didn't help as sunlight streamed in through the window to land on her bed, just below her neck, covering her back. She snuggled in deeper, letting the thoughts of getting up fade into the background of her mind as the warmth of the sun started to put her back to sleep.  
   
At that moment a faint breeze blew in through an open kitchen window, sending fresh scents of breakfast wafting through the house. Wisps of fresh eggs, bacon, and toast smells slid past Willow's nose, bringing her eyes open again. She took a deep breath, a smile coming to her face as she thought about the fact that it was not her in the kitchen making those wonderful smells. She sat up straighter, her brow furrowed. Just who _was_ making breakfast? Buffy was lucky if she could perk a pot of coffee and pour a bowl of cereal, poor thing. When it was her turn to do breakfast more often than not a bag of sausage and egg biscuits from Micky D's would be waiting on the kitchen table. So who was doing the cooking? Dawn? She wasn't due back for a couple of days. Tara? Her heart skipped a beat, then she shook her head. The fight they had had... there would be no easy getting over that. Two weeks had gone by with no word from Tara at all. She blinked, fighting back tears as memories slid past her mind's eye.  
   
With a shake she brought herself back to the present, determined to deal with those feelings another time. Speaking of time, it was time she got out of bed and figured out just who was cooking breakfast. She slid out of bed, grabbed her clothes, and then headed for the bathroom.  
   
Fifteen minutes later Willow made her way down the stairs wrapped in the plush bright pink robe that Tara had gotten her last Solstice, toweling her hair as she did. Thus she missed seeing the group sitting around the kitchen table.  
   
"Since when did you learn to cook, Buffy?" Willow asked as she pulled the towel off her head. She turned toward the kitchen then skidded to a halt as she saw the four soldiers. Her eyes darted from figure to figure, taking in their fatigues, the pistols on their belts. Holstered, but still there. And she could see behind them, leaning against the wall – and within easy reach, she noted – were what looked like small compact machine guns. They also had plates of food in front of them and it looked like she had interrupted their breakfast. At that moment her stomach let be known that it too could tell it was breakfast time, and announced it in no uncertain terms to the room.  
   
Daniel smiled at the young woman, trying to set her at ease. "Breakfast is over there," he stated, nodding toward plates full of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and a pitcher of orange juice arranged on the center island. "Teal'c goes overboard sometimes."  
   
"I do not, Daniel Jackson." The voice was deep and seemed to resonate from the bottom of her feet. She looked toward the end of the table, where a hulking figure sat before a large plate of food. As she looked at him Willow realized he wasn't hulking. He was just big. Muscular in all the right ways, he seemed to emanate strength just by sitting there. Then there was some sort of symbol displayed prominently on his forehead. Her own crinkled slightly as she thought she recognized it. But she couldn't put her finger on it.  
   
"Um, hi?" she replied meekly, her eyes moving back to Daniel. She tried to figure out what to say next, but for a moment nothing more came to her. Then, it hit her "Can I ask what you are doing in my kitchen?"  
   
"You must be Willow," Daniel said, then nodded as he saw the answer in her eyes. "Buffy said to tell you that she had to go down to the magic shop to see Anya, and then she would be back."  
   
Willow stared at Daniel. What he said made sense. Buffy did have some business that she had to take care of with Anya this morning. She'd mentioned it last night at dinner. But that still didn't answer her question.  
   
"Nice avoidance there, bright eyes," she said to Daniel. "But you still haven't answered my question. Who are you and why are you in my kitchen?"  
   
O'Neill chuckled, bringing the girl's attention to him. He could see in her eyes that she would be quick to lose patience with them. He'd heard from Janet just what kind of crazy a teenager could bring, and after all, they were guests.  
   
"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill," he said to her. "This is Major Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c." Each member of his team nodded to her as she introduced them.  
   
Willow nodded to each of them. The Major was a fair looking woman, obviously in shape. And from the amount of gear she was carrying she appeared to be able to keep up with the boys. She returned Willow's look with one of her own, and Willow could see the intelligence behind those eyes.  
   
Daniel Jackson appeared almost boyish, with a naiveté about him. His eyes and mouth showed that he probably smiled at the drop of a hat. Yet there too the eyes gave him away. No stupid man there.  
   
Then her eyes turned back to Teal'c, and all became clear. "I see," she said to them. "You came to us because of the demon in this man's body. You wish it removed?" She didn't know how she knew, but she did. It was the magic, of course. Lately it had manifested itself more and more on its own, without her having to call it. It felt good. And right now, it also made things clear.  
   
They all reacted to her statement, each in their own way. Daniel's eyes grew large as he connected what she had said with the immature Goa'uld inside Teal'c. Sam was quick on the draw, a gasp coming from her. Jack took a moment more, then he too understood. Teal'c's eyebrow merely rose.  
   
"You speak of the Goa’uld inside of me," he said. "It is no threat. It keeps me alive." He did nothing as Willow slowly made her way over to him until she stood right next to his chair. Her eyes looked almost luminescent as she looked at him.  
   
She closed her eyes and passed a hand out in front of her, taking in the entire man. She could feel the creature in him, and could see how it was helping him. But she could see hurt there, too. Though not hurt now. More like hurt later.  
   
"You speak truth," she said simply, and the power in her voice could be felt by all of them, deep down within. It was Willow’s voice, but it wasn’t. Her voice sounded like multitudes of voices, each just a half pitch off from the others. Each of them wondered just what kind of world they had stepped in.  
   
"But this thing that helps you now will hurt you later." She looked directly into Teal'c's eyes. "You must rid yourself of this soon. Or lose your life to it."  
   
Suddenly the front door slammed open, startling all of them. "I'm home!" Buffy yelled from the doorway. "Did you miss me?" She sauntered into the living room and immediately noticed the tension in the air.  
   
"Did I miss something?" she asked as she headed over to the breakfast makings and made herself a plate. Willow, having come back to her normal quirky self with Buffy’s arrival, quickly joined her.  
   
"Since when does the Army come visit?" she asked Buffy. Her stomach growled once again. This time she answered the call and filled a plate for herself.  
   
"I found them lost in the warehouse section," Buffy replied as she leaned against the center counter in the kitchen and began eating. "They haven't a clue about Sunnydale. I couldn't leave them out there." She gave Willow that half grin that she knew always got her friend. "Besides, I found them right where you said you felt that magical upheaval yesterday."  
   
Daniel, having gotten up get more coffee, paused, having overheard Buffy's last sentence. "I'm sorry," he said, letting his curiosity get to him again, "but did you say magic?" He cocked his head slightly to one side, causing his hair to fall into his eyes.  
   
"Yes she did," Willow responded.  
   
"Now ladies, we all know that there is no such thing as magic," Daniel replied, thinking about all the cultures where so-called magic had been an integral part of their lives. They had managed to explain most of what they had seen to advanced technology of one alien race or another. What was that saying, advanced technology cannot be discerned from magic? Something like that. He also had conveniently forgotten the feeling he had had when he had watched the redhead with Teal'c not five minutes ago.  
   
"Excuse me? What world do you come from?" Willow asked sarcastically, her eyebrows raised. The man was in Sunnydale and was spouting off about there being no magic? Hello? Anyone remember the Mayor?  
   
"We're from Earth, actually," Daniel blurted. "Just not… this Earth."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=  
> Sorry about being so late in getting the chapter up. I will do my best to not let that happen again.


	4. You Did What?

**Chapter Four- You Did What!?!**

 

Buffy was the first to recover from Daniel's pronouncement, and the look on Willow's face told Buffy that it would be a good minute or two before anything coherent came out of her friend.  
   
“So let me see if I have this straight, okay?” she asked Daniel. Not waiting for anything like a reply from him, she continued on. “First, you are in someone's military. Two, you appear in Sunnydale, having no idea about the place, even though being in said military, you should have. Three, you make a statement that there's no such thing as magic – which really shows how absolutely lost you are here, by the way. Four, your friend over there,” she nodded at Teal'c, “has a creature inside him that he says is keeping him alive. And five, you then state you're from Earth, just not ours. That about got it?”  
   
Daniel nodded, then started a bit as Willow appeared beside his chair. She stood there, looking down at him. “So there's no such thing as magic. Is that right?”  
   
Daniel found himself looking into those dark green eyes, bright with intelligence. They seemed to draw him in, and as he stared into them he could swear the color was starting to fade in them to be replaced by a swirling darkness that seemed to pull him in even faster.  
   
“That's enough, Willow.” Buffy's voice cut through the fog that was starting to envelop Daniel. Willow had the grace to look a bit sheepish as she backed off a step, her eyes dropping away from Daniel’s. Daniel glanced at her eyes again to see the same green that he remembered. He shook his head as he attempted to clear it.  
   
“Are you okay, Daniel Jackson?” Teal'c asked his friend as he saw the dazed look on his face.  
   
“I'm okay,” Daniel replied. “Really, I am,” he said as he turned and saw the look on O'Neill and Carter's faces. “What did you do to me?” he asked Willow as he turned to look at her.  
   
She ducked her eyes behind her hair for a moment. “I charmed you,” she stated simply.  
   
“Charmed me?” he asked, his voice giving hint to his disbelief.  
   
“Yeah. Didn't you, just for a moment there at the end, feel like you'd do anything for me?”  
   
“Now that you mention it...” He looks down suspiciously at the half eaten breakfast on the table in front of him, then looked up at them. “You drugged the food.”  
   
“I prepared breakfast, Daniel Jackson,” Teal'c stated. “I would surely have noticed if someone put drugs in the food.”  
   
“You still do not believe.” Willow stated simply.  
   
“That is correct. I do not.” Daniel replied. “Magic is just advanced technology taken to a point that we do not understand.”  
   
She grinned a bit sadly at him. “If only it were so. What would I need to do to convince you of this folly?” she asked him simply.  
   
“Whoa now, let's not get carried away with this.” O'Neill, quiet until now, spoke up. “I don't think there's any need to prove anything here.”  
   
“I disagree,” Willow stated. “I have spent years studying the arts. I have known pain and pleasure from my experiences with it. Yet here sits a man who, with a singularly narrow mind, refuses to believe. I must show him the error of his thinking.” She turned her gaze from O'Neill back to Daniel and caught his eyes again.  
   
“So, Daniel. What can I do to prove to you that magic is real? That it can be manipulated as easily as ingredients for the breakfast that your friend used this morning. What will it take for you to believe?" She reached out and placed her hands over Daniel's as she grasped them gently. She looked into his eyes, her question stretching out before them.

  
As their gazes locked, Daniel got lost in her eyes for the second time. Their green irises seemed to grow larger in his sight until all he could see was their incredible depth. He found himself lost in the vision that was Willow. Thoughts scattered through his head, fragments of memories and experiences from the past danced through his vision. His time as a young man trying to get his views of ancient Egyptians accepted by his peers; his too **-** brief time with his wife Sha're; the many varied adventures he had as a member of SG-1.   
   
The images began to come more quickly, moving from one event in his life to another with incredible speed, flickering past his mind's eye faster and faster until he began to feel physically ill from the sensation. Just as he thought he could bear no more, it stopped. He rocked back in his chair, pulling his hands out of Willow's.  
   
“What did you do to me?” He asked hoarsely.  
   
Concerned, Sam began to rush to Daniel's side when a gesture from Willow stopped her in her tracks. Literally. “I can't move!” She shouted.  
 

O'Neill and Teal'c, too, found themselves rooted to their spots as Willow's gaze swept over them. She then looked at Buffy, pinning the slayer to the kitchen counter.  
   
“You wished to see magic, Daniel Jackson,” Willow said, moving closer to him, her eyes now solid black. Daniel found his gaze trapped by her eyes again, and try as he might, he could not pull away from their depths. She stopped mere inches from him, the intensity of her gaze pinning him to his chair even though there was nothing magical about it.  
   
“So now you shall see.”  
   
Willow's voice seemed to enlarge to fill the room, taking on the cadence they had heard before as she rolled off a chant almost older than humanity, the power coursing through her causing her red hair to billow out from her head. A pulse of power emanated from her and raced across the little space between them to surround Daniel. It swirled around him, fading in and out of sight. Then it gathered itself, swirled around him once more, then reared back and slammed into him. A blinding flash of light followed, driving everyone in there room to their knees, their heads flaring in agony as the light flashed through the skulls, their vision blasted away from the whiteness of the explosion. Then blackness claimed them.

 

~BTVS/SG-1~

 

Buffy woke with a groan. For a moment she lay there, breathing. Then, with another groan, she sat up and looked around. Bodies lay everywhere. Out cold, but breathing. She made her way over to Willow, then knelt down beside her to check her out. As she brushed some of her hair off her face Willow's eyes flickered open, not tracking on anything in particular. Buffy was pleased to see that their color was the normal greenish tint that made the redhead's eyes stand out.   
   
“Wha... wha... what happened?” Willow asked as she pulled herself into a nearby chair. She felt incredibly weak. She crossed her arms on the table in front of her and dropped her head onto them with a tired sigh. Then a thought crossed her mind – a single stray thought – and her eyes flashed wide. Daniel! What did she do to him?  
   
She rose slowly and made her way around the table, noticing that while she did the others were starting to stir. Buffy had moved to help Xander to his feet, and the soldiers were starting to help each other up.   
   
Daniel was crumpled on the floor, curled into a ball. She moved over to him and rolled him over to check for obvious wounds. What she saw sat her back on her heals in a bit of a shock. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. She turned and waved her arms toward her friend as she tried to get Buffy's attention. Instead, she got someone else's.  
   
“Willow?” What did you do to us?” The voice was the woman soldier's, Sam, she realized. Sam was making her way over, rubbing the back of her head as she did so. “What are you…” She stopped as she caught sight of Daniel. The two women looked at him in shock.  
   
Daniel sat up groggily, leaning his back against the chair behind him. He realized he was on the floor, but couldn't remember how he got there. As he sat up something felt different about his posture. He couldn't put it into words, but he felt strange. Then he caught sight of his hands as he propped himself up, and his eyes widened. Those weren't his hands! What was going on?  
   
“Sam!” He cried as he saw her standing near him. He got a further shock as he heard his voice. That wasn't his voice! Well, it was, but not what he was used to. “Sam! What's happened to me?”  
   
Sam stopped in shock as Daniel looked agonizingly at her. But it wasn't Daniel. It was a woman! Then she started to really process what she was seeing and cut a quick look over at Willow, who was still standing beside them, then looked back at Daniel.  
   
“Colonel? You'd better come see this!” she shouted then almost jerked in surprise as he appeared at her shoulder. How did he *do* that!  
  
After Jack had gotten himself to his feet, he had just finished checking on the others when Sam called him over. He saw her and the redhead standing there with a women in fatigues just like theirs. Then he saw the name tag on the shirt and looked on in disbelief. “Daniel?” He asked. For the person sitting on the floor in front of him didn't look like the Daniel he knew. Long brunette hair fell down past the woman's shoulders. Her face was Daniel's, if Daniel looked like the girl next door. As Sam helped Daniel to his... err... her feet Jack couldn't help but notice that Daniel was in good shape. Real good shape.  
   
Daniel looked down at himself for a moment, taking in the changes to his body. No wonder he felt different than usual. From all appearances, he was a woman!  
   
“What did you do to me?” He shouted as he leaned on the kitchen table across from Willow? “What did you do?”  
   
Willow raised her head. She'd been thinking about that very question. She knew what she'd done. She just wasn't sure how she had been able to do it. To change an individual into another creature or, as in this case, male to female, took a lot of preparation. There were tomes to study, materials to gather, and then the time for the casting of the spell. Hours, if not days, were involved in that. Not minutes. She couldn't argue facts, however.

 

“It appears,” she said as she answered his question, “that I proved to you that magic exists.”

           


	5. Will These Do?

  
**Chapter Five – Will These Do?**

 

“Okay, it's time to talk,” Colonel O'Neill said from his position leaning against the living room wall next to the entrance to the hallway. Teal'c stood by the front door, as much relaxed as he ever was. Sam sat in the armchair next to the entryway to the kitchen, with Daniel sitting in a chair next to her. Across the room sat Willow and Xander on the couch, while Buffy stood warily next to them.  
   
“I'll say it is.” Daniel found that he could now talk without startling himself with his own voice. Didn't mean he had to like it. He'd been a woman now about four hours, and in that time he had begun to get accustomed to his new body. Especially when he had availed himself of the facilities. Now hadn't _that_ been an interesting experience. He still was confused about a great many things.  
   
He had tried to confront Willow, to demand that she change him back, but both Buffy and O'Neill had quickly stepped in and stopped it. Buffy because Willow was her friend and she would defend her no matter what; O'Neill because he wanted solid information, not what would come out in what would have been a very heated discussion. Buffy had gotten Willow upstairs and in her room while Daniel had fallen fast asleep on the couch not ten minutes after sitting down.   
   
That had been over three hours ago. Willow had come downstairs a few minutes ago, looking much better than she did when she went up. Daniel had awakened shortly thereafter, and seemed to be healthy. At Jack's request Sam had checked Daniel's vital signs and all the readings were fine.   
   
Everyone looked across the room at each other, looking to see who would jump in and start things off. The silence lingered on for a few minutes. Finally, Jack opened his mouth to ask a question when Willow's soft voice floated across the room.  
   
“Daniel, I am truly sorry for what I have done to you. I had no intention of doing this.” She sat on the edge of the couch, hands crossed in her lap. “What I have done is not the Goddess' way. At least, not the Goddess I serve.” She paused for a moment as she looked down from Daniel's eyes, her eyes focused on something from within, then looked back up at the group.  
   
Daniel, about to snap a sarcastic remark, stopped. He was having a harder time controlling himself now, he'd found. And he could tell by her body language that she meant what she said. She was nothing like the girl that had stared at him through those black, black eyes.   
   
“The apology is... accepted,” he said, returning Willow's gaze. "I have to say I don't think I have ever been convinced so thoroughly about something in my entire life!" He said the last with a small laugh. But his statement was correct. There was nothing short of magic that could have so changed him physically as what Willow had done to him. She had changed him from a guy to a girl. Even with the sarcophagus, with which he had first-hand knowledge, couldn’t have done that in the handful of seconds it had taken Willow to change him into, well, her.   
   
“So. Now that you’ve convinced me, can you change me back?”  
   
Willow’s shoulders sagged a bit as the question she had been dreading was asked. She had in fact been thinking about that very question. She knew what had happened. Her other self, the one that _really_ liked the feeling of the power coursing through her, had stepped in, grabbing control for a few precious seconds. Long enough to do some serious work on Jackson. The spell to do it had sprung to mind easily. As if she’d been researching it for the past year, instead of just thinking it up. And the words. They too came to her as if she’d spoken them a thousand times. It made her shiver just a bit when she thought about how easy the spell had been to cast. It had been nothing to do.

That was then. And now was now. And she’d found that she had no clue how to go about transforming him back. At least, not without a whole lot of research. She looked around the room as she thought about her answer. SG-1, as she had found out they called themselves, were looking alert but a bit antsy. Xander had his normal “I’ll look dumb but really I understand most of it” look – she would really have to let him know one day that she knew - and Buffy was looking relaxed as she leaned against the wall. She knew that was just a front, because she knew her friend. Better yet, she knew the slayer. If any of the others made a hostile move she would be all over them before they’d taken more than a step.  
   
“It is possible to change you back,” Willow finally stated. “It will, however, take some time for me to do the research and to gather the components for a successful casting. A month. Maybe two. Many more, If I am unlucky.”  
  
“That long?” Daniel stated, resignation in his voice. He had been hoping that this could be dealt with quickly. Seems his luck had failed him this time. “It is what it is.”  
   
O’Neill decided this was the time to give them something else to think about. “On other fronts,” he stated, getting their attention, “we have a dead gate on our end with a destroyed DHD. Two months may be a cake walk compared to what we may be facing.”  
   
“What do you mean?” Buffy asked, bringing herself into the conversation.  
   
“What I mean is that before we met up with you this morning we examined the gate that we apparently came through. The gate itself is fine but completely without power. The DHD – Dial Home Device – the thing we use to get home, is fried. Without that we are stuck here.” His voice dropped off at the end. That was something he really didn’t want to have to face right now. But face it he would. That was his job, after all.  
   
“The Colonel is correct,” Sam interjected. “Without those parts, we can’t get the DHD working. And without that we can’t get the gate working.”  
   
“Why not?” piped up Xander. “If you had power to the gate could you figure some way around the problem of the broken DHD thingy?”   
   
Sam automatically began to say no, then stopped. She looked over at Daniel, whose eyes widened as the same thought crossed his mind. When the Stargate program first started they didn’t _have_ a DHD! They had done it all by computers!  
   
“We could possibly use computers, Colonel, like we did when the gate program was first started!” O’Neill’s eyes widened as that sank in. “Good thinking, Major.”  
   
“Do you guys use computers?” Sam asked excitedly. Perhaps there was a way out of this after all.  
   
“Um, I have my Mac,” Willow stated uncertainly. “But if you think I’m going to hand that over to you… well, that isn’t going to happen.”  
   
“So there’s phase one,” Jack said, interrupting Sam. “Sam, you and Daniel see about getting some computers that we can use. You know better than I,” Jack said the last with a knowing smile, “what you’ll need to pull this off. Meantime, you said something about power?” He said, looking over at Xander.  
   
Xander nodded. “There are some empty warehouses in that complex that Buffy found you in. Some of them had some relatively heavy equipment in use in them, so their power grid is set up to handle a decent amount of current. We could rent one in the back and use it.” He looked around, catching the glimpse of Buffy. “And if, of course, Buffy decides to help you out with your problems. Until then, this is all hypothetical.”   
   
At that point Buffy, who had been okay with sitting back and letting the others talk it out, straightened up, drawing everyone’s attention to her. Now that Xander had drawn her into the conversation, it did seem like a good time to go about it.  
   
“Agreed,” she said. “The first thing I think we need to establish is fairly simple.” She looked over at Jack O’Neill. “Do you want our help?”  
   
Jack turned his gaze away from Buffy to look at the rest of his squad. Teal'c, as always, looked as stoic as ever. "Where you go I shall follow, O'Neill," he stated simply.  
   
Looking over at Carter he saw the look of determination in her eyes. He knew, since they had thought of the idea of redoing the DHD with local computers, she would be thinking of little else. Sam nodded as Jack's gaze caught hers, confirming what he had been thinking.  
   
The look on Daniel's face answered the question for Jack as soon as he looked at him... her... whatever. It was still too new to him to try to figure out right now. So Daniel was still Daniel. He just looked different.  
   
He nodded to them, then turned to look at Buffy. "I appreciate your offer of help. Though I wish it was not necessary. I am not thrilled at involving teenagers in dangerous business. I am also not willing to turn down help when it is offered. So yes, I will accept your help."  
   
"Now the first thing that is going to be an issue would be, how are we going to finance our little projects? Living on the income of a college student, I'm not going to be able finance very much," Buffy stated with the voice of experience.  
   
“I think I can help with that.”   
   
The voice was Daniel's, Jack realized, as Daniel got their attention. But it wasn’t. It was… not now, he thought, squashing that train of thought.  
   
"First though, I want to say I know how awkward what has happened to me has made you feel. Believe me, it couldn't be any stranger than actually having it happen!" The grin, if not the face, was definitely all Daniel.  
   
''It's okay. For the duration of this," he gestured down to his body, "Let's just go with calling me Danni. Okay?" He nodded as they all acknowledged his request. "Okay then."  
   
She stood up and pulled her pack out of the corner where they had been stowed. She dug through it for a moment. Then, with a muffled "ah ha!" she pulled out a small leather bag and tossed it over to Buffy. "You have someplace you can hock those?"  
   
Buffy cocked an eye at her, then loosened the string that held the bag closed. Jack nodded to himself as semi-precious stones spilled out of the bag into Buffy's palm. She whistled as the overhead light reflected off the jewels that were now exposed.  
   
"Those our part of our First Contact kit," Danni explained as she dusted off her hands.   
   
"What do you do, buy them off?" Willow asked as she stared at the gems in Buffy's hands.   
   
Danni grinned. “Something like that,” she said. “Sometimes they recognize the value of the gems. Sometimes they think they are pretty. Depends on the level of civilization they are.”  
   
“I think I can do something with these,” Buffy stated as she put the gems back into the bag. “May take me a couple hours, though.” With that she nodded to Willow, stuffed the bag in her pocket, and strode out the door.

**~BTVS/SG-1~**

Sam blew a stray strand of her hair away from her face as she worked on their latest set of supply needs.  She had not been surprised when she realized there was no Tiger Direct or Egghead sites. But Willow knew of several that filled the same need over here, and they had lost no time figuring out what they had to have to build their own DHD.

So, with the help of Willow, and Willow’s laptop, they had hit the hardware sites that would have the capability to do what they needed. The equipment they would need would not be cheap, and she had mentioned that to Jack. He’d given her a look, then picked up an envelope from the table, its contents sticking halfway out.

“Here you go,” he stated simply. Sam caught it deftly, then whistled as she saw the stack of hundred dollar bills inside. She did cock an eyebrow as she saw the picture of Elvis Presley, who apparently was the 42nd president here.

 “She got all this from those gems that Danni had?”

Jack nodded. “That’s what she said. And frankly, looking around the place, I don’t see them as being independently wealthy, do you?”

She nodded back. Sam looked down at the money, quickly thumbing through the stack. That would definitely be enough. She turned to look back at him.

“Jack, this will let us get the hardware we need. Luckily this world seems to have the art of miniaturization down better than our world. So we can get more bang for our buck, as it goes. But where should we have it shipped?”

She grinned at the “eh?” face that this question raised. “You didn’t think we would be able to bring the gate in here and run it, did you?” she said as she grinned at him.

"Good point," Jack admitted.

“And speaking of bringing the gate in here, any ideas on how to move it? Took a pretty big crane to lower the one down into Cheyanne Mountain.”

“Now that, Sam, is a good question.”

 

 

 

 


	6. Revolution

Willow watched Buffy leave, then turned back to the others. “Okay. I figure the best thing we can do right now is figure out what sort of equipment we’ll need to duplicate this DHD thingy of yours. I take it you’d be the best person of your team to assist me in that?” she asked, looking over at Sam.

“Actually Dan… Danni,” she stumbled over that, “and I both do a pretty good job with the hardware aspects of this. Though Danni is the better of us two when it comes to figuring out how to actually get the Stargate to work,” Sam admitted. She was already thinking of the setup that they would have to come up with. Admittedly it would be easier than the first time, as they had had no idea what type of computing power was needed. But it was still going to take a lot of computing power to do what needed to be done. “I just program the thing.”

O’Neill nodded. “That will work,” he stated. “Sam, you and Danni stay here and work with Willow. Xander can take me over to the real estate office. We will see what is available,” he stated, seeing the concerned look cross Sam’s face, “I will let you and Danni worry about the actual hookup of the systems. I’m just going to get familiar with the place, do a bit of scouting. Teal’c, you’ll come with us.”

Xander looked up when O’Neill called his name, and was nodding enthusiastically by the time he had finished speaking. “I can do that!” he exclaimed, even as Teal’c nodded to Jack.

 “Get what you need,” Jack said, “and be ready to head out in ten minutes. Meantime,” he turned his attention to Sam and Danni, “I want the two of you to work with Willow and figure out what we’ll need from your end to get the gate operational.”

Sam looked over at Willow, who looked just as excited at helping her and Danni as Xander did at his assignment. She wasn’t sure what sort of help a teenager was going to be able to give her. It did look, at least from what she’d seen, that Willow knew her way around computers. She wasn’t sure, though, about the girl herself. She had demonstrated that she knew about a branch of physics – she wasn’t ready to call it magic yet – that had not been discovered on Earth. If nothing else, it would be nice to have her around to pick her brain. About that. And other things. Who know how long they were going to be stuck on this world.

She moved her gaze over to Danni and was met with a smile that was all Daniel’s. She grinned back at her, now knowing that no matter what had happened to his physical form that was all Daniel inside. So she knew they were good.

 “Will do, Colonel,” she replied to O’Neill. “We’ll have an idea of what we need in the way of computer equipment by the time you get back. What we want and what we can give will depend on how much Buffy can get for those gems Danni gave her. Once we know that I will be able to give you a much better idea of how long this will take us. We are going to have to write a lot of the code that we’ll need, and the specs for those will have to come from what Danni and I can remember. But one way or the other,” the determination in her voice plain to hear, “it won’t be a problem with the code that keeps us from going home.”

Jack nodded at Sam’s words. Definitely the scientist, and team member, he knew. He turned and removed most of his military gear, indicating to Teal’ to do the same thing. “We don’t want to advertise that we are military,” he explained as he did so. Soon they were both in what passed for civilian garb. Jack had put most of his weaponry aside, only keeping the 45 he carried hidden away.

By the time he and Teal'c were ready Xander had returned from his room. He had changed into his hunting gear - black turtleneck sweater, black tight-fitting pants, and a pair of military boots covered his feet. “Okay,” he said, coming to a stop before the two men, “it’s only about a half an hour walk to the northern part of town where the warehouse district starts. The real estate firm has an office right there on the premises. There’s some ground traffic near there, as a couple of shopping and work districts converge there. Such as Sunnydale has anyway.” He said the last with a shrug. “So we should fit right in…” and then stopped, looking at Teal’c and the staff in his hand.

Teal’c looked back at Xander for a moment, then looked over at the staff. Raising an eyebrow, he walked over and placed it in what had become its customary place in the living room. He looked back at Xander as he returned to the group.

“That'll work,” Xander said as he gestured toward the front door. “Shall we go?” He took the initiative as he headed out of the house. With a nod to the ladies and instructions to Sam that they'd touch base every 30 minutes, O’Neill and Teal’c followed. 

**~BTVS/SG-1~**

“I’m back!” Buffy’s voice filled the house as she closed the door behind her and moved toward the living room.

“We’re upstairs!” Willow replied, her voice drifting down the stairs. Buffy made her way up the stairway and into Willow’s room, where she saw Willow, Sam, and Danni sitting spread eagled on the bed as they bent over the display on the laptop in front of them.

“Hey!” Buffy stated, bouncing down onto the bed beside the group, glancing over at Willow’s screen as she did. She couldn't tell with any great detail what was on the screen, but she could tell it was very technically oriented stuff. “Find what you need?”

 “I believe we did, Buffy,” Willow replied as she turned to look at her friend. “The processing power that Sam and Danni say they need we can get. Not locally, and not inexpensively, either. But we can get it.” She looked over at them, then turned back to look at Buffy. “There are two problems that I see that we will need to figure out. The amount of physical equipment we’ll need is too much to set up in here, even if we took over the living room. The other is that there will need to be a remote system that ties back to the main processing unit, and I'm not sure how to deal with that.”

Buffy grinned at her friend. “You always say that at the beginning, Will,” Buffy said. “Then you go on and figure out a way to do it anyway. So, how much money do we need?”

Willow gazed downward, breaking eye contact. She wasn't sure that she was the same Willow that Buffy was referring to. Not since Tara’s passing. She hadn't felt herself at all. “Just under five hundred thou,” she said. Seeing Buffy's widen eyes, she hurried on. “Oh, that includes the software, or at least the bare bones operating systems. We’re going to be writing a lol of original code ourselves.” Her glance took in both Sam and Danni, who nodded in agreement.

 “Luckily both Danni and I were members of the original design teams, though Danni came along a bit later. I'm confident that, between the three of us, we can get the software running that we will need. Going to take some time, possibly as long as the original project took. But I hope not.”

Willow quirked an eyebrow at Sam, a silent question in her eyes. Sam grinned back at her. In the short time she had known the girl, she’d found the she had enough curiosity to fill the room, and the intelligence to understand the answers. She had to admit that she herself was still having trouble comings to grips with what she called magic. It _had_ to be something I can quantify! Then she half-shook her head with a small grin.

 “Don't try, Sam,” Buffy said quietly. “Every time I think I have Willow figured out, she surprises me and then I'm confused all over again.” She smiled a bit of a sad smile at her friend. Then her face brightened. “Anyway, we can cover the cost of the equipment, Willow. And even have some left that we might be able to cover rent on some space somewhere in town. Those stones were of _very_ good quality.” Then she smiled one of her impish smiles. “Besides, the demon owed me a favor. Or three.”

Danni had been staying in the background, for the most part, as they had made the list of equipment they needed. She had been having thoughts and feelings passing through her head that she had not experienced before. She'd wandered if this was the way that women think, and if it was it certainly explained some things that she’d always wondered about. And getting used to her new body… She'd found that she was nowhere as strong as she had been as Daniel, but she was a lot suppler and could move in some amazing ways. But he was still Daniel in his core, so being a woman was very strange.

She looked up at Buffy's last statement. “A demon?” She paused for a second, obviously taken aback by the statement. “The gems were pure,” she after a second. “They were grown especially for us by the Relowwyn, one of the many races that we have encountered since discovering the stargate technology. They have huge pools of them growing throughout their capital city. Apparently they are just a commodity, and a common one at that. They were happy to share them with us.”

She stopped as Buffy and Willow’s looks changed in amazement. “What? We helped them through a nasty plague that was ravishing their world. It was a fair trade.”

**  
~BTVS/SG-1~**

                The long black limousine pulled up to a stop in front of a building, the low quiet purr of the engine giving pause to the amount of power that could be called on at a moment’s notice. The driver’s door opened, allowing a large, massively built man to exit the car. He swiveled his head as he scrutinized the area, doing a full three hundred sixty-degree sweep before opening the rear door and allowing the occupant to leave the car.

                The man who rose out of the limousine was immaculately dressed; Armani suit, the kerchief tucked into the breast pocket just so, the wingtip shoes polished to gleaming perfection. Leading men would weep if they saw him walking down the street, wishing they could be half as handsome as he.

                He moved away from the limo, swiftly surrounded by the other men that had exited the vehicle after him. He moved toward a venue across the street. Workmen were putting the final touches on the renovations to the building he had purchased, and he smiled in satisfaction as he saw the sign company’s truck hanging the sign for his new club: _Revolution_.

                He nodded to the workers as he passed through the front doors and made his way through the club. With the lights on, the place looked ready for opening night. He had hired one of the best decorating companies in the area to create just the look he wanted, and they had done an excellent job with the place. Chrome gleamed everywhere and the walls were a deep red fabric that seemed to breathe on its own. The dance floor was central to the room, surrounded on three sides by tables. On the fourth side stood the stage, standing three feet off the floor. A long bar served the room, with several doors leading off to the offices and smaller rooms available to special guests.

                At the end of the bar, behind a carefully arranged series of plants, was the door to his private office, which he lost no time making for. He took a moment to let the system identify him by retinal prints and DNA, then smiled in satisfaction as the door clicked open. He proceeded in, only to have to stop at a second door set twenty feet down the hall, the door behind him clicking shut as he did.

                No way out without a code, he thought as he went through the procedure again. Again the door clicked open, and he entered his office. His eyes took in the terrified, bound teenage girl on his couch.

                “Don’t worry, my dear,” he said as he closed the door behind him. “Feel free to scream as loud as you want. The walls are soundproof, you see.” His eyes began to glow with an inner golden light, and his tongue seemed to grow as he stepped toward his prey.

 


End file.
